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NIOSH Director Named Dean of UCLA School of Public Health

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Contact: Fred Blosser (202) 401-3749
September 15, 2000

NIOSH Director, Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H. has accepted the position of Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Rosenstock will begin her duties at UCLA on November 1, 2000. “While I am excited about this new opportunity, it is difficult to leave NIOSH and all that we have accomplished over the last six years, “said Rosenstock. “I sincerely believe that working people are better off because of NIOSH’s research and prevention activities. I am confident that the hard work and dedication to the field of occupational safety and health will continue long after I have left the Institute.”

Dr. Rosenstock’s tenure at NIOSH began in April 1994. After weathering attempts by the 104th Congress to eliminate the Institute in 1995, Dr. Rosenstock went on to lead NIOSH through a period of great growth. During her six years as NIOSH Director the Institute has:

  • Expanded its scope of responsibility by acquiring the health and safety functions of the former Bureau of Mines and its staff of 400 in the Pittsburgh and Spokane research centers.
  • Increased its annual appropriations by $85 million (65% increase).
  • Developed, in collaboration with 500 external partners, the National Occupational Research Agenda, a framework for guiding occupational safety and health research.
    • Federal funding for NORA has increased 133% since NORA’s creation in 1996.
    • The NIOSH investment in NORA has increased from $15.4 million in FY 1996 to $72.3 million in FY 1999 (due in large part to Congressional support for NORA).
  • Increased the number of research grants funded by NIOSH by 467%.
  • Emphasized practical recommendations. NIOSH adopted a new exposure limit policy based not only on health effects data, but also on technological feasibility. For example, new NIOSH respirator testing and certification requirements significantly decreased the cost of respirators that met the performance criterion for the prevention of tuberculosis, resulting in considerable savings for the health care industry. This success was honored by Vice President Gore with a Hammer Award for excellence in reinventing government.
  • Increased partnerships. For example, through use of innovative engineering controls, NIOSH and its partners in labor and industry achieved an unprecedented accomplishment, 100% of an industry voluntarily agreeing to implement control technology equipment- which reduces worker fume exposure by about 80% – on all new highway pavers. This unique partnership was selected as a finalist in the 1998 Ford Foundation Innovations in American Government Awards program.
  • Developed and fully staffed its new state-of-the-art research laboratory in Morgantown, WV (with 300 additional employees added to the overall NIOSH effort).

Dr. Rosenstock received her BA in psychology from Brandeis University and her MD and MPH from the Johns Hopkins University. Her advanced training was at the University of Washington, where she was Chief Resident in Primary Care Internal Medicine and a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. She held appointments at the University of Washington as Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and Professor of Environmental Health in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

At the University of Washington, Dr. Rosenstock was active in clinical practice of both general internal medicine and occupational and environmental medicine. She conducted research and published extensively in many areas of medicine and public health, with over 120 contributions to the scientific literature, including three books.

Dr. Rosenstock has been active internationally in teaching and research in occupational and environmental health. She has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization, taught in many developing countries, and conducted health effects studies in Latin America.

Before becoming NIOSH director, she chaired the United Auto Workers/General Motors Occupational Health Advisory Board. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and an elected member of the Society of Medical Administrators and the Institute of Medicine.

Dr. Rosenstock, her husband, Lee Bailey, and their two children, Adam Lee Bailey (7) and Matthew Lynn Bailey (5) look forward to the move from Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA.